Susan Morrison: How to give the comics a bit of a lift

Despite appearances, the Fringe is not a freewheeling anarchic merry- go-round of comedians, dancers and unicycling mime artists. It pretty much clicks along with the timetabling accuracy a certain dictator brought to Italian trains. So, for example, at my venue, Mobilise, the fact that it takes nine minutes to get to The Stand Comedy Club is a plus. When an act finishes at 9.10, we could safely say we’ll have the comedian back for their own show at 9.25.

It should have worked. Had the lift not jammed.

Cue pandemonium. I’ve got a stand-up comedian, a driver and two random women trapped in a lift. Up the road, The Stand will have a Stephen Carlin-shaped hole on their stage at 9.25, he being the immured act.

Hurrah to the double-quick lift engineer. Not to worry, I shouted to Stephen. We’ll have you out there in no time.

No hurry, he shouted back. This is going really well. Small venue, but a great audience. Might do it next year.